Jabberwocky
by AlothStarr0
Summary: This is a story I wrote for a school assignment based off of Lewis Carrol's poem Jabberwocky. kinda romance, but mostly action. i put it as complete but i may make it longer. if i do i'll probably redo the whole thing. r


I don't own the Jabberwocky or any of the cool made up words from Lewis Carrol, though I guess I do own the characters I made up in the story. hope you like! I threw in the poem and the explanations of the words that I got from wikipedia so that you won't be totally clueless. XD enjoy!! I'm considering making the story longer; I made this one for a school assignment and it is only 3 Word pages long, so im thinking of maybe writing a longer version cuz i could made it a lot longer ;)

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Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!'

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought--

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

_**Explanation of Strange Words **_

**Bandersnatch** – A swift moving creature with snapping jaws. Capable of extending its neck.1

**Borogove** – A thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round, something like a live mop.2 The initial syllable of _borogove_ is pronounced as in _borrow_, rather than as in _worry_.3

**Brillig** – Four o'clock in the afternoon: the time when you begin _broiling_ things for dinner.24

**Chortled** - Perhaps a blend of _chuckle_ and _snort_.5

**Frabjous** - Probably a blend of _fair_, _fabulous_, and _joyous_ .5

**Frumious** – Combination of "fuming" and "furious."3

**Galumphing** - Perhaps a blend of "gallop" and "triumphant." (Used to describe a way of "trotting" down hill, while keeping one foot further back than the other. This enables the Galumpher to stop quickly)5

**Gimble** – To make holes like a gimlet.2

**Gyre** – To go round and round like a gyroscope.26 However, Carroll also wrote in Mischmasch that it meant to scratch like a dog.

**Jubjub** – A desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion.1

**Manxome** – Combination of "monstrous" and "fearsome", or possibly "manly" and "buxom". Possibly related to the Manx cat.

**Mimsy** – Combination of "miserable" and "flimsy."2

**Mome** – Possibly short for "from home," meaning that the raths had lost their way.2

**Outgrabe** – Something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle.27

**Rath** – A sort of green pig.2 (_See __Origin and structure__ for further details._)

**Slithy** – Combination of "slimy" and "lithe."2 The _i_ is long, as in _writhe_.3

**Toves** – A combination of a badger, a lizard, and a corkscrew. They are very curious looking creatures which make their nests under sundials. They live on cheese.2 Pronounced so as to rhyme with _groves_.3

**Tulgey** - Applied to a wood(s); (usually interpreted as) thick, dense and dark; also fig.

**Uffish** – A state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish.8

**Vorpal** - Assumed to mean "deadly" or "extremely sharp", or perhaps to imply that the blade has magical properties.

**Wabe** – The grass plot around a sundial. It is called a "wabe" because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it, and a long way beyond it on each side.2

**Jabberwocky (again) (this is the actual made-up-story part)  
**

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. Or at least, they did when the Jabberwock wasn't around. The manxome brute often came from its lair, whiffling through the tulgey wood out onto the wabe, brining havoc to the poor toves and smashing the sundials they made their homes under. The Jabberwock would also often destroy the slithy toves' crop of cheese plants just out of spite (the Jabberwock hated cheese.).

On this particular day the toves were out in the wave gyring and gambling for the tiny cheese plant seeds which would often get mashed down into the ground where they wouldn't grow. The seeds could only grow during brillig, when the hot sun cracks open the seed shells and lets them start to grow.

As the toves were gyring they began hearing disturbing noises coming from the tulgey wood. Suddenly a large brown-and-purple Bandersnatch leaped out onto the wabe, looking about wildly and then tearing off across the wabe and disappearing into the wood on the other side. The toves looked at each other and retreated into their burrows under the sundials as a pack of tiny green mome raths raced across the wabe on their tiny little legs.

Then, most surprisingly of all, there appeared a girl, tall, with long blond hair and eyes that were gray-green like the sea. She wore a dress that was simple yet pretty. She was obviously terrified, and for good reason: seconds later, like a stone thrown from a catapult, the Jabberwock exploded from the wood, roaring and bellowing its manxome cry. The poor girl screamed and tore off across the grass, but she was no match for the speed of the beast. It caught up with her in half a dozen strides and was about to grab her with its dirty claws when something streaked out of the woods behind it and leapt onto its back. The monster shrieked an unearthly cry and began thrashing about, trying to rid itself of its attacker, which turned out to be a dot. A boy also ran out of the woods brandishing a stout oak staff and yelling. He shouted a command to the dog, which jumped off the back of the Jabberwock and began barking and snarling viciously. The Jabberwock, seeing that it had the disadvantage, snarled, brandishing its claws, then retreated back into the tulgey wood with an angry outgrabe.

The boy ran to the girl, who was cowering in fright under a large sundial, and helped her to her feet. She was trembling horribly and clung tightly to his arm. "Don't worry, its gone," the boy soothed. He let her cling to him until she stopped trembling and regained a bit of her composure. She took several deep breaths, pushed her hair back, and straightened her rumpled dress.

"I owe my life to you," she said, and the boy could see that she was being sincere.

"That beast is an old enemy of ours," the boy replied. "So we know how to fight it. My name is Tanek by the way."

"My name is Alta. Pleased to meet you Tanek. I am in your debt."

"It was no problem really; any chance to injure that manxome beast is reward enough for us."

"Nevertheless, I won't forget it. I will see that my father rewards you with whatever you want or need."

"Who is your father?" Tanek asked.

"My father is King Akereat of the kingdom that borders on this wood."

_Whoa, shocker!_ Tanek thought. Princess huh?

"What are you doing in the tulgey wood?" he asked.

"I was with my father on a hunting trip but when we camped I wandered away and got lost. I'm sure he searched everywhere for me but I wandered too far and fell asleep and must not have heard them calling. Then when I woke up that horrible monster was right there beside me and I ran and it chased me. Then I ran out here and you saved me. I will be forever grateful." Then she surprised Tanek by giving him a kiss on the cheek. He blushed just slightly.

"Well Princess Alta, you're in luck, because I know the way out of here. I've lived here all my life so I can get you back to wherever you live in under a week, if it's fairly near."

"I would be greatly in your debt Tanek."

They hiked all day through the tulgey wood and were about halfway out, according to Tanek, by the time they camped. Tanek caught two little mome raths and they roasted them for dinner, then wrapped their cloaks around themselves and fell asleep beneath a large oak tree.

The next morning when Tanek awoke he found to his horror that Alta was gone. He had had a strange dream that something was happening to her and now he realized that it must have been real, or at least parts of it. _The Jabberwock must have taken her in the night_, he thought. The dog whined. "Durango, look for tracks!" Durango found tracks and a scent almost immediately, and the pair took off. The trail was easy to follow; the Jabberwock must have just booked it through the woods.

They came to a cave after running about a mile, and they knew that they had found the Jabberwock's lair. A horrendous stench filled the air and nothing grew within fifty feet of the cave mouth except for a few stunted trees, and they weren't even growing, but were slowly rotting away.

Tanek and Durango were about to run headlong into the cave regardless of the danger when Tanek saw a glint of sunlight reflect off something in the rocks above the entrance to the cave. Curiosity overcame caution and he clambered up into the rocks.

"It's a sword, Durango!" Tanek cried. Durango barked. The sword had several rocks on top of it but Tanek easily dug it out. Surprisingly it had not a single scratch, chip, or speck of rust on it, and shone as if it had just been polished. As he gazed at it the word "vorpal" came to Tanek's mind. He had heard tales about vorpal swords that were extremely sharp and never rusted, shipped, or broke. It was said that they had magical properties. _Defeating the Jabberwock will be no problem now,_ Tanek thought to himself. He took the vorpal sword in hand and smiled, hefting the sword and testing its weight. It seemed made for his hands.

He climbed down and showed the sword to Durango. He swung it around and around in circles and the blade was so sharp that it whistled in the air. "I'm ready for anything," Tanek said, and Durango barked in agreement. "Let's go."

They dashed into the cave, which went a lot deeper into the ground than they thought. They were able to see because of a strange phosphorescent glow that came from some of the rocks around them. They had to run for several minutes before they began hearing sobs and distressed cries, which made them hurry even faster. They reached a huge underground cavern that was on the edge of a big lake. There was a huge bonfire burning and the Jabberwock was crouched next to it, trying to tie the struggling Alta onto a large pole. The beast had clumsy hands so it was having a great deal of trouble tying her, but she was growing weak from constant struggling. Tanek yelled and leaped forward with Durango at his heels, brandishing the sword around his head. The monster turned and snarled, turning its attention to Tanek, who ducked and weaved around the monster's flailing claws. Tanek leaped up and the vorpal blade went snicker-snack! The Jabberwock's head hit the floor with a disgusting thud, and its body kept twitching for a few seconds before falling still. Tanek rushed over to Alta and freed her, and they left the disgusting cave with Tanek helping Alta all the way out.

They reentered the sunlight and the fresh air and breathed a collective sigh of relief. Alta gave Tanek a grateful hug. "You have saved me once again, my hero."

Tanek blushed slightly, and scuffed his boot against the ground. "Anyone would do it. I couldn't let that thing eat you." He pulled a face, and then said, "We should get you home."

They rested for an hour or so, then began the journey home. They reached Alta's father's castle one the third day, and were received with shouts of happiness and joy, for all the people loved Alta. Her father offered Tanek gifts and even a place to stay in the castle but Tanek refused. The only thing he asked for was for the chance to have Alta visit him at least once a month. Alta and her father agreed that this was a reasonable term, and Alta and Tanek were very happy. And the mome raths never had to worry about the Jabberwock ever again.

**The End**


End file.
